Re: Outside Lands 2014

Originally Posted by sftateofmind

I didn't get to see Spoon but The Flaming Lips were solid. Put on a really great show with all the bells and whistles. People were very pleased and they played right before The Killers so it worked out.

I was going to see Flume regardless so when I heard Chvches cancelled I booked it over to Twin Peaks with an hour and half to spare. Was up front hanging out then realized things were getting tighter and tighter...got up on the rail up front too look back and saw cats in the fucking trees...The crowd even amazed him. He made the comment "I can't believe there are this many people here....I'm really out!" If anyone has his full set list and mixed songs, I'll love you for life. Shit was one of the best sets of the weekend.

Overall this 3-day weekend for OL was solid.

Haim brought it and put on a great show. Haven't met a single person who didn't like their set yet.

Disclosure almost stole the weekend

Death Cab made people transform into their younger selves and just live the moment

Local Natives came out with a ton of energy and did a great show

I even got to see Patrick Stewart do improve Shakespeare.

A buddy made this after seeing Flume at Coachella...I believe they were identical sets

Re: Outside Lands 2014

Jenny Lewis was really good. Did anybody catch The Brothers Comatose? It was a nice change of pace to hear some bluegrass.

Flaming Lips were good, weird as advertised. I caught the end of Wayne's interview at the Toyota tent too.

The Killers fucking rocked it. I almost hate saying this, but they were my favorite of the weekend. I didn't know any of their newer material, except for Human and that March Madness song, but singing along and dancing to the Hot Fuss and Sam's Town tracks with a really fun crowd was one of the best concert experiences I've had.

Another great Outside Lands, but of the three I've been to I would rank this last. Still had a lot of fun.

Re: Outside Lands 2014

Originally Posted by xanman86

How were Spoon and the Flaming Lips?

Spoon were pretty good but I think the song selection wasn't going to bring over any of the causal listeners. Flaming Lips had a decent set list but I thought they were just ok overall. Probably in the middle of the road of the times that I have seen them which would be around 7 or 8 times now.

Flume was doing pretty good but the crowd was massive and made it uncomfortable. Does anyone know why Chvrches cancelled?

Overall, this was probably my least favorite OSL, at least of the past four (Didn't do all three days for the first three).

Re: Outside Lands 2014

Band highlights:
Janis Joplin Tribute - speeches ran a bit long, but still cool to see Kacey Musgraves, Nicki Bluhm and Mary Bridget Davies do some Joplin. Especially MBD.
Nahko - they were awesome, wish I was closer (watched from the straw bales). In my top 3 sets of the weekend.
Finish Ticket - they brought it start to finish, and were so appreciative of the crowd, which was really cool
Tycho - awesome to see his live set, great times (also saw him in the Toyota tent doing a DJ set the next day which was cool)
John Butler Trio - was worth it to see him for "Ocean" alone, he is a phenomenal guitarist
Made in Heights - they were really surprisingly awesome, such a great sound
Flume - just like at Coachella, he was mis-staged at OSL. Why didn't he simply get the main stage? I've never seen a non-main stage act have so many people at it - Twin Peaks was absolutely insane. One of my favorite sets of the weekend, he killed it (only instances that I can think of where an act was mis-staged as badly as this was Amy Winehouse Coachella 07, Madonna Coachella 06, Daft Punk Coachella 06)
The Killers - didn't know what to expect since I hadn't seen them in like 4 years, but they were awesome. Mr. Brightside intro blew the crowd away - weird to start off the concert with what I consider to be their best song lol. Ended up being my favorite of the weekend.

Top 3 sets - Killers, Flume, Nahko

Overall it was a hit or miss OSL for me - I wasn't that pumped up for Fri or Sat unfortunately. Sun had a ton of bands, but they were all very spread out of in terms of stages, and all of them seemed to be clustered in the 3-6 PM time slot somehow ugh. It is simply hard to move between stages quickly at OSL, unless you are only going from Panhandle to Twin Peaks. So you end up missing more bands that you'd like simply due to this. The weather was all over the map - Fri was the consistent, Sat was the coldest, and Sun was almost too hot since we all dressed like it was going to be colder.

I did like the Sip & Shave tent, ended up getting a haircut, and just gave a $10 tip. Also liked the Ben & Jerry's ice cream tent. Paypal schedule temporary tattoo was also cool. (and people loved the facepaint here too)
The water situation needs to be improved. The so called "efficient" delivery system ended up with us in long lines waiting to fill our bottles. Just get the 5 gallon jugs and get on with it. I ended up simply buying bottled water instead of waiting in the lines. Is that what OSL would want us to do? Why can't they simply have a water refill place near each stage staffed with 5 gallon jugs? Especially at Sutro.

I'd say it was my weakest of the 3 I've gone to (2013, then 2010, then 2014). I only went Sunday in 2011. Next year I'm waiting until the lineup comes out before buying my ticket.

Re: Outside Lands 2014

I'm bummed to have missed Outside Lands after going last year for the first time. It's a really pleasant, beautiful festival and the bookings are right up my alley. I hope they get headliners that are more appealing to me next year. Killers and Yeezus aren't travel-worthy for me in the same way as Macca and NIN (plus I had never seen RHCP before either so 2013 mainstage was perfect).

Re: Outside Lands 2014

I ended up seeing Jenny Lewis in light of Chvrches' cancellation, whose projects I've always liked but never loved, but that cancellation seemed to be all I heard people talking about all day. Not surprised Flume was a clusterfuck as a result. Lykke Li and Flaming Lips were great, but that was expected. Less expected was Lucius, who were my surprise set of the whole weekend, even though the whole mirror image going on with the band kinda creeped me out.

Re: Outside Lands 2014

watsky was surprisingly fun on sunday afternoon before flume. both were solid, cut copy was a non-stop dance party. was a little disappointed in spoon as well. killers put on almost the exact same set as hangout fest in may and bennicassim last summer so eh...

i thought petty was great, jagwar ma was fantastic, both big freedia sets were a blast. kanye was spitting hot fire...for 4 songs. the audible groans from the crowd when he stopped his 3rd song midway through was my cue to head to arctic monkeys, but they underwhelmed, too.

the soul rebels were a lot of fun and i thought holy ghost! were the best band out of the hg!/chromeo/disclosure mainstage run on friday. atmosphere was a blast, too, biggest crowd i've ever seen on sutro, made alabama shakes look like it was empty by comparison.

Re: Outside Lands 2014

Going to echo some of what's been said here and say that The Killers were unexpectedly my favorite set of the entire weekend.
First time catching them and I felt a strong sense of nostalgia throughout.

Lykke Li also was incredible, much more personable and light-hearted on-stage instead of the woe-is-me "I Never Learn" singer I was expecting. I was standing behind a group of chatty (shocker) bros who felt it necessary to babble throughout, presumably not giving two shits about the performance, which then begs the question why the hell are you at a Lykke Li set then. Somewhat detracted from the experience, but she still had me captivated. Looking forward to her show at The Fox next month.

Made in Heights was my favorite find. Also shout-out to Christopher Owens' back-up singers, and the last performer at the Janis Joplin Tribute.

Re: Outside Lands 2014

Yep, I'm on board with the sum is greater than its parts/fun weekend comments.

I think this was the OSL that I spent the most time at since I was there by 1:30 or earlier every day and stayed until the end (minus the last couple Killers songs) every night.

I just think 2014 was a down year for festivals as a whole. Coachella probably had one of the better lineups top to bottom and everyone was down on that lineup. Look at Lolla/ACL/etc lineups and you realize that OSL didn't have as much to work with this year as previous years but still did a decent job.

I'm definitely in the decompression stage right now and my wife is trying to get me to motivate for Burning Man which I don't think my brain/body is ready for at the moment.

Re: Outside Lands 2014

Re: Outside Lands 2014

Originally Posted by Vasoline Groove

I just think 2014 was a down year for festivals as a whole. Coachella probably had one of the better lineups top to bottom and everyone was down on that lineup. Look at Lolla/ACL/etc lineups and you realize that OSL didn't have as much to work with this year as previous years but still did a decent job.

Agreed. Even though like Coachella, I moaned about the OSL lineup a bit, both look better in retrospect given how weak so many other festivals look this year. No one else got Petty.

Did anyone else catch Woods? That was the ideal early Sunday festival set. Sleepy yet tight set where your legs are tired from the last two days and just want to lay out on the hill by the Sutro.

Re: Outside Lands 2014

I should've gone to see Woods. I got drunk at Tee Off with plans on coming in for CHVRCHES, which led to me getting even more drunk instead. Really helped settle that Flume conflict, though... I wish I remembered more of that set.

To hell with that cheap beer and whiskey, I should've just gone to see Woods.

Re: Outside Lands 2014

Courtney Barnett was amazing and so were The Flips! Friday was by far the worst day for me in OSL history. The highlight of the festival was the Truffle cheese with 10 year aged Virginia Ham. Pure Crack!

Re: Outside Lands 2014

Originally Posted by knotted_donuts

I saw her! But you didn't fucking tell me about Woods! It's all your fault.

I am realizing that I didn't jock them at all, I don't think, so I will take the blame for that. They are great and luckily they tour really frequently so anyone who hasn't had a chance to see them should put them on their radar if they at all like the Woodsist label or acid psych freak folk. They are consistently a great live band.

Re: Outside Lands 2014

This was the first year I didn't go everyday, only went Friday and Sunday, but don't feel like I missed out on much at all. By 2pm on Friday, it was evident why the festival sold-out in a day. The crowd was noticably younger, a little more chatty, but not in that douchey early-30-something hipster way, just young, anxious, excited, and mostly there just to be there. So that's fine, but f*ck was it busy.

Run the Jewels was a surprising amount of fun for me. Their delivery was spot-on, the beats were fresh, and for the folks who made the set, we got a real treat. I had never even heard of them until I saw the line-up and I was immediatedly engaged at the start of their set. Good times.

Finished off Friday with Arctic Monkeys. I thought for sure I would go see at least a few songs from Kanye, but AM drew me in right away when they started their set with "Do I Wanna Know?" I thought the crowd was great and me and my friends had a terrific spot just slightly up the hill and about even with the soundboard. I was into it start to finish and from my vantage point, I'd say the band was in good spirits and was digging the crowd.

Didn't get in until Spoon's set on Sunday, but they were fun. Kinda goofed off and just went with the flow of my group instead of following my musical instincts that day and in a way, probably blew it. Missed Lykke Li, who I wanted to see, and opted for Cut Copy over the Flips. Whatever though. Finished strong with the Killers.

Some beers worth a mention... Drake's Brewing Co. Black Robusto Porter and the collab from Sierra Nevada & Russian River Beer Co. called Yvan the Great (a Belgian Pale Ale).

Some folks claim that Magnolia's Kalifornia Kolsch is outstanding, so I took their word and ordered my first at OSL and it SUCKED. I'm thinking it had to have been a bad batch or something. It was flat, syrupy and dull. It honestly reminded me of the $3/6-pack from Trader Joe's brew called Simpler Times.

All in all I had a good time, but I hope APE can find a way for this fest to be profitable with about 15,000 less people.